How Family Devotions Taught My Child About Fairness

(4 Simple Ways to Start Yours Today.)

Last night my daughter walked into our room to tell us that she wanted a fan like her sister’s. Typical behavior for children right? To want to match their sibling in everything especially when there’s just two of them.

My husband and I addressed the covetousness, letting her know it’s not permitted. She should be thankful for her own, because it’s good, and otherwise she will lose it. Of course we knew we should still address it better but it was bed time and we didn’t have the words.

Next morning, family devotion time, scripture for the day was Proverbs 16:11

“The Lord demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Completely unplanned, but absolutely on point. The Holy Spirit must have smiled last night because He knew we would have an opportunity to teach fairness, which was probably at the root of our daughter’s desire, to have everything exactly the same as her sister. We thought it was covetousness (because we have grown in sin), but Her Heavenly Father knew she needed to understand fairness.

So we simply explained the scripture – fairness isn’t giving you both the exact same thing, it’s giving each of you what you need. We used the fan example, Christmas gifts examples etc. And the children saw from the scriptures that fairness is a standard set by God himself and that it doesn’t necessarily mean exactness.

It was a blessing to have the answer from the word, just when we needed it. Teaching the scriptures to your children is a blessing.

If one of your desires in 2026 is to start teaching your child the scriptures in family devotions, here are a few pointers to help you get started:

1. Start alone if you must

I started family devotion alone at the beginning. Reason being my husband was working 12-16 hours every day at the time I started with the kids, and I was a stay home mom. He was giving his all to ensuring rent was paid and food was at home, and though I desired for him to lead us in devotions, it would have been insensitive to demand it at that time. So I started.

The situation in your home may be different; it may be that your husband or wife sees no need for it, feels incapable of leading it (a lot of times, people disguise their feelings of insecurity under arrogance and unwillingness to budge), or is genuinely unavailable at the time suited for it, considering you’re dealing with young kids.

Whichever the case, you can start first. Don’t wait until your spouse becomes more available, more willing, or more able; your kids are growing and learning daily and are in need of the truth of scriptures daily, so simply start.

2. Carry your spouse along.

Starting alone doesn’t mean bearing the mental weight alone. Involve him from day one by letting him know the intention and the plan. Even if he or she simply nods or doesn’t even respond. Let him know, “I want to start devotion with the kids. It’d be the first thing in the morning when they wake up or the last thing at night before they go to bed. I’d like us to do it together. Please see if you can start making allowance for it in your schedule (if it’s an availability issue). Or it’d be nice to have our leader (Daddy) say a few words of prayer over us to bless us (if it’s an unwillingness issue)”.

Will change be immediate? Probably not. But one, he knows you desire him to be there. Two, you keep watering the seed of the request you’ve made with prayers and trust God to work on his heart.

If you need guidance on how to pray for him, and your children, this book can help you with that 👇🏾. It includes over 100+ scripture-based prayers for your marriage, your work, your kids and your spiritual life. It also includes specific prayers for husbands alone and wives alone. Check it out here.

Gift yourself spiritual clarity and direction for the new year by getting this book now and praying your spouse into spiritual unity.

3. Start Simple

If your kids are 2 and below, family devotion can simply be 10 minutes of singing at night. Turn the scripture into songs and sing it with them. Sing worship songs as lullabies. I even received a scripture-based song for each of my children when they were at this age, using their names and singing it to them daily.

If your kids are above 2, they can sit to listen to short devotions. There are so many available out there today but here is one we started with and really loved.

If you have kids 5 and above, start reading a verse of scripture each day and explaining the meaning to them. We started with a verse of Proverbs in 2025; today we’re at Proverbs 16:11. Faithful God!

Devotions in our house are about 20 minutes long, as my youngest is 5, and they take place Monday through Friday. On Saturdays, we do memory verse revisions. They have now learned about 15 memory verses, which we found they must revise weekly so as not to forget.

Your kids came in a very small package and are growing; therefore, start devotions small and grow from there.

4. Consistency matters.

Ever given up on a healthy diet routine or an exercise routine, lol, I know I’ve fallen off the wagon a few times, but the key is to not stay on the ground. If you miss a day, start the next day again and decide not to miss two days in a row.

Eventually, your little kids will be the ones to remind you, “It’s time for devotion”. That’s how they got my husband on board.

When I started working outside the home and was no longer always available at 6 am (their wake-up time), they’d go wake him, “Daddy, it is time for devotion”. How can he say no to them? 😂. Not that he was ever unwilling anyway, he just thought his wife was more capable as a children’s church teacher. However, at that point, he knew he must be available when mommy is not.

Consistency matters. Set an alarm 30 minutes before if you have to or simply schedule it for a time you are most available and decide to model discipline + consistency to your kids.

For more on Devotions, read 5 tips to raise kids who love the Lord!

If you follow these simple steps, with Prayer Proof as a guide, at the end of 2026, you will have achieved a core goal of raising a spiritually healthy family, one where you, your spouse, and your kids are all growing in the Lord. Wouldn’t that bring so much joy and gladness to your heart?

If this reminded you why your family needs time in the Word, pass it on. Someone else’s home could be changed by it too.

Rooting for you always,

Wonuola Omoghene